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GOVERNMENT INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

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Government Debt Chart

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Use the controls below to CUSTOMIZE chart or CHANGE the data series

Hover mouse over dropdown controls for help. Remember, you can display a maximum of five data series at once.

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Spending Units: By default, government spending is displayed in billions of dollars. But using a dropdown control in the table heading you can select billions of 2005 dollars, percent of GDP, 2005 dollars per capita, percent of federal spending, or percent of total spending.
Chart Title: You can create a title for your chart. Use the text field to enter a title and click the button to the right of the text field.
US or State: By default, the chart shows overall United States government spending. But you can select spending for individual states by selecting the state dropdown control in the table heading.
State, Local: By default, you can chart state spending or local spending by clicking a radio button in the selection table. But you can chart state-and-local combined by selecting state n local in the state/local dropdown control in the table heading.
View: There are many ways to view the spending data. The default view is functional. There is a census view that conforms with the spending categories used by the US Census Bureau in its Statistical Abstract. There is a COFOG view that categorizes spending using the UN methodology.
Linear/Log: By default, the data series are displayed as linear charts. But you can also select a log chart. Linear charts show constant amount changes as a straight line; Log charts show constant rates of change as a straight line.
Line/Bar: By default, the data series are displayed as line charts. But you can also select a bar chart.
Data Stack: By default, the data series are “stacked” when displayed on the chart. But you can change the setting to “un stack” the data series.
Chart Size: By default, the chart is displayed at medium size. But you can use the dropdown control to change the size.
Color: By default charts are displayed with color data lines and fill. You can change this to grayscale if you want.
US Budget Year: By default, the chart displays budgeted and estimated federal spending in the current US Budget submitted to the Congress by the president. But you can look at previous budgeted numbers using this dropdown control.

Data Range

Start Year: You can select any start year you want using the dropdown control in the table heading. At the top and bottom of the dropdown only years ending in “0” are shown. Select a start year to get close, then select the start year you want.
End Year: You can select any end year you want using the dropdown control in the table heading. At the top and bottom of the dropdown only years ending in “0” are shown. Select an end year to get close, then select the end year you want.
Category (max 5)Sub-categoryFed Gov. 
Xfer 
State Local Total   
 
Data Series: Select a spending series you want to chart from a dropdown on the left. If you select on the bottom dropdown you will add a data series (up to a maximum of five). The right-hand dropdown allows you to replace a data series with a more narrowly focused series. Click the “X” link to remove a data series from the chart.
 
 All Categories

If you’d like to create your own custom chart of spending data you should use the table above to make your selections.

  • Select the year range: Select the start year and the end year you want by selecting the years you want in the two year dropdown boxes.
  • Select spending items: Just select the spending item you want from the dropdown control. Then click a radio button to select the level of government: federal, state, or local. If you select from the < select > you will add another data series to your chart. Up to 5 data series are allowed at once. Click the “X” link to remove a data series from the chart.
  • Select units: You can select the display in billions of nominal (i.e. inflated) dollars, billions of real (i.e. year 2005) dollars, or as percent of GDP.
  • Choose chart features: You can select the size of the chart, switch from bar chart to line chart, select color or black and white, stacked or not. You can also blow up the chart to fill the screen with the “fullsize” tab control above the chart display.

Download Data

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Download Data File

 

Click button to download CSV file of dataset in chart.
 

Download Tab-delimited Data

Copy and Paste: To copy and paste data into spreadsheet for analysis, just copy the tab-delimited text in the textbox below (click cursor in text box, then press ctrl-A then press ctrl-C) and paste it into your spreadsheet.

View Data Series

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Below is a formatted version of the data displayed in the chart.

Public Debt
Fiscal Years 1960 to 2016
YearGDP-US
$ billion nominal
Population-US
million
Public Debt -fed
percent GDP
1960526.4179.32339.95a
1961544.8181.58838.75a
1962585.7183.88137.28a
1963617.8186.20435.93a
1964663.6188.55533.46a
1965719.1190.93730.83a
1966787.7193.34828.13a
1967832.4195.79026.42a
1968909.8198.26326.08a
1969984.4200.76622.76a
19701038.3203.30221.72a
19711126.8205.51521.08a
19721237.9207.75220.27a
19731382.3210.01319.22a
19741499.5212.29917.54a
19751637.7214.60918.91a
19761824.6216.94520.97a
19772030.1219.30721.88a
19782293.8221.69421.43a
19792562.2224.10720.48a
19802788.1226.54621.20a
19813126.8228.67021.27a
19823253.2230.81524.29a
19833534.6232.97927.78a
19843930.9235.16429.30a
19854217.5237.36931.71a
19864460.1239.59534.75a
19874736.4241.84235.42a
19885100.4244.11035.73a
19895482.1246.39935.95a
19905800.5248.71037.53a
19915992.1251.80240.56a
19926342.3254.93342.62a
19936667.4258.10343.84a
19947085.2261.31243.44a
19957414.7264.56143.57a
19967838.5267.85042.65a
19978332.4271.18040.18a
19988793.5274.55237.11a
19999353.5277.96633.52a
20009951.5282.17229.13a
200110286.2285.08227.08a
200210642.3287.80427.59a
200311142.2290.32629.23a
200411853.3293.04630.33a
200512623295.50730.55a
200613377.2298.10930.35a
200714028.7300.73330.33a
200814369.1303.38036.97a
200913939306.05148.61a
201014508.2308.74656.57a
201115079.6311.59265.52e
201215547.4314.12369.54e
201316752.4316.84769.44e
201417782.2319.59469.40e
201518804.1322.36669.21e
201619790.5325.01069.27e

Legend:
a - actual reported
i - interpolated between actual reported values
e - estimated by usgovernmentspending.com
g - 'guesstimated' projection by usgovernmentspending.com

Data Sources for 1960:
GDP: Measuring Worth - US GDP
Federal: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970
State and Local: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970

Data Sources for 2016:
GDP: Fed. Budget: Hist. Table 10.1
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2 and 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances
Guesstimated” by projecting the latest change in reported spending forward to future years

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Next Data Update

> State GDP CY12

> data update schedule.

Data Sources for 1960_2016:

Sources for 1960:

GDP: Measuring Worth - US GDP
Federal: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970
State and Local: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970

Sources for 2016:

GDP: Fed. Budget: Hist. Table 10.1
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2 and 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances
Guesstimated” by projecting the latest change in reported spending forward to future years

> data sources for other years
> data update schedule.

Federal Budget FY 14 Released

On April 10, 2013, we updated usgovernmentspending.com with the numbers from the historical tables in the FY14 federal budget. Actual revenue for FY 2012 and estimated revenue through FY 2018 come from Tables 2.1, 2.4, and 2.5. Actual spending for FY 2012 and estimated spending at the subfunction level through FY 2018 comes from Table 3.2. Budget Authority estimates come from Table 5.1, federal debt estimates come from Table 7.1 and GDP estimates come from Table 10.1.

You can see you each line item changes from budget to budget here. You can compare budget estimates with actuals here.

Account level spending estimates through FY 2018 come from the Outlays table in the Public Budget Database and were updated on usgovernmentspending.com on March 10, 2013.

Account level budget authority estimates through FY 2018 come from the Budget Authority table in the Public Budget Database and were updated on usgovernmentspending.com on March 10, 2013.

Spend links

us numbersus budgetcustom chartdeficit/gdpspend/gdpdebt/gdpus gdpus real gdpstate gdpbreakdownfederalstatelocal200920102011californiatexas

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usgovernmentspending.com was designed and executed by:

Christopher Chantrill.

Email here.


presented by Christopher Chantrill
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